AJC.com > Iraq coverage > Blog > Archives > 2005 > December > 16 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USHair-raising flight
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In the skies above Iraq — This was Capt. Scott McKeever’s last flight into Baghdad International Airport before going home for a few months. The Air Force captain who has been flying C-130 cargo planes since 2002 was on his third deployment.
He sat confidently behind the yoke in the cockpit with his co-pilot and two other crew members. The four had become fast friends over the four-month deployment, during which they ferried passengers — soldiers, contractors, government officials and journalists — from Kuwait into Baghdad.
“They make fun of my melon,” McKeever, 29, said of his head.
They made fun of a lot of other things as well as the plane soared high above lands that are perilous to U.S. soldiers.
“You’re free to get up and look around,” said McKeever, a native Atlantan who graduated from St. Pius X high school.
To which Staff Sgt. Joseph Frantz, added: “Yeah, there’s desert on this side. And desert on the other side.”
“Hey, were you there when the guy went up on the crane?”
Frantz inquired about the 57-hour standoff between murder suspect Carl Roland and Atlanta police.
That question sparked a conversation about the series of events in Buckhead last May.
But McKeever said no matter the banter, the crew was keenly aware of the dangers below.
“It’s a tough job,” he said. “The insurgents are trying to shoot at you. The communications capabilities are not always great. There’s a lot of activity, a lot of planes in the area. So you have to be extremely sharp at all times. But it’s exciting. I enjoy this job.”
As the plane began its descent into Baghdad, McKeever and crew donned flak jackets for safety.
“We’re going in,” Mckeever said.
Just seconds from landing, McKeever suddenly took his plane back up. Another plane was still sitting on the runway. Bad communication from air traffic controllers.
The passengers inside the cargo hold had no idea what was going on — the C-130 has just a few tiny windows.
But from the cockpit, the situation was scary for this lone journalist. I thought the end was near before I had even touched Iraqi soil.
After a few hair-raising twists and turns, we were back on for a landing. This time, McKeever landed the plane without any problems. We were free to walk into the combat zone.
Comments
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By Robert
December 16, 2005 10:15 PM | Link to this
Boy this story really reminds me of my entry into into Baghdad last year. It was like being on a roller coaster headed for Hell when my cargo plane dove down for our night landing on a darkened airport. And getting out at the end of my tour was even rougher. Glad that Moni made it in over there without any further adventures. Stay safe Moni and good luck!
Robert
By Joseph Smith
December 17, 2005 12:13 AM | Link to this
LACK OF PROMOTIONS CONTINUE TO PLAGUE THE 48th BCT
I published an insert in the BLOG on 1 December but just wanted update not only soldiers in theater but also back in the states on the current situation with the Promotional System here.
First, let me quote a few lines from the Chief of National Guard Bureau’s policy on promotions during mobilizations.
“I expect aggressive action to fill vacancies with the best qualified soldier’s�
“A soldier who is on the promotion list, who is assigned to a higher grade position, must be promoted immediately. I know this may cause some administrative problems, how ever we will work these issues as we go, including those that persist after the soldiers return�
“Soldiers in units deployed to operational theaters will have priority for vacancies in those units�
The Chief of Guard Bureau has given his guidance and expectations and clearly that has not happened. This continues to puzzle the soldiers of the 48 BCT that continue to put their lives on the lines daily. He also stated that soldiers deployed to OIF would get first consideration on the EPS. Georgia is clearly not in compliance but who do you place the blame on; who answers to the soldiers on why they are not promoted.
The soldiers of this brigade are deserving of any recognition they get. They have done an outstanding job and some have paid a heavy price. An award looks nice but when a soldier is promoted, only then will he feel he has accomplished his duty. It goes back to quote that I remember once hearing about death, “Don’t give me flowers when I am dead if you didn’t give them to me when I was living�. In a nut shell, why should the soldiers that have paid the ultimate price be promoted posthumously when they were not promoted while performing their duty?
This is becoming a re-enlistment issue with soldiers. It is even to the point where soldiers are told that they have to extend to get promoted but as of yet have been promoted. This is a serious morale issue. One soldier that I talked the other day stated that he has lost over $6300. in tax free money because the state has not promoted him and he is promotable.
The promotions should happen immediately and not to penalize the soldier for the incompetence of leadership but pay the soldier retroactive pay from the time that he was eligible for the promotion. This is the only right and fair thing to do, if we care about soldiers. We are cheating the soldiers out of money as well as time towards promotion to the next higher rank. We have started on the promotions for the next year and yet to fill the ones for this year. I would dare even estimate how many soldiers would have been eligible for the next higher grade had they been promoted on time.
I do believe it is time for the leadership of this brigade to step up and take care of these soldiers. Excuses need to be in the past, what we need now is solutions and action. The one that is responsible needs to correct this then be fired!!! Someone that is proactive and cares about soldiers needs to be placed in the position.
By a soldier
December 17, 2005 08:24 AM | Link to this
There is one way to get promoted and it seems to be the most often used in the 48th bct… you get it posthumously.
By Stacy L.
December 17, 2005 09:38 AM | Link to this
Joseph Smith, you should be ashamed of yourself, hijacking a wonderful story about Capt. McKeever with your totally unrelated complaint. This is not your blog, and is not a forum for you to personally update people on anything going on in Iraq.
If you (and apparently, every other soldier in Iraq) are so fed up with the system, there are measures you can take and legitimate routes and processes to wage your complaint. I don’t believe any of them involve posting on a newspaper’s blog.
By 48th wife
December 17, 2005 06:45 PM | Link to this
I just wanted to comment on Mr. Smith present and previous blog. Lower enlisted soldier’s are not the only ones deserving of promotions that don’t get them. My husband is an officer who took a demotion originally to come back to the guard. He should have already been promoted. The state can’t even get his pay correct (which has been going on for more than a year). We just get the run-around when it comes to trying to get his pay fixed. The brigade needs to look after all of its soldiers equally and yet it doesn’t!
By Sgt Infantry
December 18, 2005 01:43 AM | Link to this
I won’t be re-enlisting because of my lack of promotion. Even though I got selected and will be promoted in January they say. This deployment has showed the 48th’s LACK of care for it’s own soldiers.
Sgt Anonymous
By butch wilson
December 18, 2005 12:09 PM | Link to this
every man and woman in iraq deserve the very best the united states has to offer GOD BLESS &MERRY CHRISTMAS
By Dawn Williams
December 18, 2005 02:43 PM | Link to this
Moni ~ thank God you got there saftly. Thank you for going again I know our family appreciates it very much . God Speed and God Bless! Thank you also to the Ajc for not letting our soldiers be forgotten.
By 48th BCT Soldier
December 18, 2005 06:33 PM | Link to this
This comment is directed to Joseph Smith. I understand the soldiers frustration with the EPS System. It is a broken egg with very little chance of repair. I agree that we need to start fresh and soldiers that are deployed need to be selected over the soldiers on rear detatchment. However we have to work within the boundries that we are given. I was also command removed from Phase II of my BNCOC which would have made me fully eligible for promotion. I was told along with others “We will still process you 4100 and you will be placed onto the EPS List because you were command removed” When the EPS List was published I was not on it. I was flustered and addressed the problem with my CSM and Chain of Command. I have been assured that everything is being done to correct this problem. As for soldiers just being promoted because they are on the list, I don’t agree. Positions are filled as a VACANCY occurs. If we promoted every soldier eligible, look at what we would have. Way too many Chiefs and not enough Indians. You give a diferent level of respect to NCO’s than you do lower enlisted. Not to say that lower enlisted are not important, because if you look at history, they do the majority of the work and the higher ranked NCO’s and Officers get the credit. I assure you that in this NCOs opinion that our leadership does care about us and wants each one of us to make all the money we can overhere, because you can not put a price on what we are doing. Allow the leadership do their jobs, however keep asking every so often about the status of changes in the EPS system. I wish you the best.
GOD BLESS AMERICA and GOD BLESS the 48th BCT
By SGT Mark C. Kuenzi
December 19, 2005 09:23 AM | Link to this
Hi, I have been in the 48th for 8 years, I was a senior E4 then for some reason mainly the changes in the promotion system that seem to change every other month I was not promoted until the end of my tour in Bosnia in 01, on this deployment I was told I was going to be a Gunner on a bradley, during the train-up I was given the postion of bradley commander which is a E6 slot I took over that job in January of 05 being told the whole time that I would be promoted before we got in-country and here it is almost January 06 and still no promotion. I am on the promotion list,high on the promotion list, have been on the list for awhile, I have taken patrols out in sector as the patrol leader and as the section Sgt being resposible for 2 Bradley’s and the 6 soldiers that make up the crews and the soldier’s in the back that can be up to another 12 soldiers. I am expected to lead these young men in combat yet I can’t get myself or them promoted,we keep telling them that we are trying but that does not help when we have to ask them to fill out there promotion packets again because someone higher up lost/misplaced or just does not care about there job to do it right, I am thinking about taking my 14 years in the Army and running like HELL for the simple reason that it seems that no one cares about the SOLDIER anymore. I myself don’t understand how a person can take a job in the military come to a combat zone and then worry about going to the gym or whether they can make it to MWR in time for Kareoke. Fire these so called soldiers and give it to someone who cares about the job how about people that are or where affected by these people atleast they will know what it is like to be screwed by the system and will understand how we fill. I have no idea how much money I have lost because of the screw-ups I don’t want to know that would just make me that much more angry at the system. I know that there is not a simple solution to the problem with in the Brigade maybe they should go ask how the other units can get there soldiers promoted and we can’t